Women of the NTSB

By Robert L. Sumwalt

As Women’s History Month draws to a close, we at the NTSB reflect on the thousands of women who have made a profound impact on transportation—at the NTSB and in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. The contributions women have made to advance transportation safety, currently and throughout America’s history, are immeasurable and indispensable.

This weekend will mark the 50^th anniversary of the NTSB opening its doors, and women have played key roles in the agency since its inception. In 1969, Isabel Burgess was nominated to be the first female Board member. In 1974, Mary Wallace (“Wally”) Funk became the first woman given the official title of Air Safety Investigator at the Board. Throughout the NTSB’s history, there have been seven female Board Members and three female Chairmen of the Board. Kay Bailey (later Kay Bailey Hutchison), once Vice Chairman of the Board, went on to become a US senator from Texas, where she served as the ranking member on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. On a personal note, I had the pleasure of serving with our former Chairman, Debbie Hersman, who is now president and CEO of the National Safety Council.

Today, women make up 40% of the staff at the NTSB. There are 22 women working specifically on aviation safety issues. Nineteen women are in leadership roles as Member, directors, deputy directors, and supervisors.

The number of great accomplishments achieved by women at the NTSB and in the transportation industry is too great to attempt to tally. Women have been essential fibers in the fabric of the NTSB since day one, and they continue to make essential contributions. In addition to the women included in our administrative, human resources, and other support teams, the women who serve the NTSB as accident investigators, technical writers and editors, recommendation specialists, safety advocates, transportation disaster assistance specialists, recorder specialists, chemists, attorneys, and engineers ensure that the mission of this agency is fulfilled, day in and day out.

This month, and every month, the NTSB honors women in transportation and all the contributions they have made—and will continue to make—both within and outside the agency.

Teens and Drowsy Driving

Teens and Drowsy Driving

By Dr. Jana Price

Sleepiness while driving can have serious consequences. The NTSB has investigated numerous crashes in which driver drowsiness played a role. Today marks the first anniversary of one of those crashes.

On March 20, 2016, four teens were traveling home from a weekend trip to South Padre Island, Texas. At about 1:57 pm, the driver lost control of the car, crossed the center median, entered the opposing lanes of traffic, and collided with a truck-tractor semitrailer. The driver was seriously injured and her three friends died. The Board determined that that the driver’s loss of control was due to inattention resulting from her fatigue.

NTSB investigators learned that, in the 24 hours before the crash, the driver had very little opportunity for sleep—only about 5 hours on the morning of the crash.

According to the CDC, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teens in the United States, and recent AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety research shows that one in five fatal crashes involves a drowsy driver. Other research shows that drivers aged 16 to 24 are at the greatest risk of being involved in a drowsy driving crash.

In a recent AAA Foundation study, many drivers who understood the risks of drowsy driving admitted they had, nonetheless, driven while fatigued. Specifically, the AAA survey found that 96 percent of drivers see drowsy driving as a serious threat and a completely unacceptable behavior; however, among that same group, 3 in 10 admitted to driving when they were so tired that they had a hard time keeping their eyes open.

Lack of sleep slows reaction time and makes us more susceptible to forgetting or overlooking important tasks. A few seconds is all it takes to drift out of the lane or to miss a stopped vehicle ahead.

Although it’s not always possible to predict when you will become drowsy behind the wheel, there are several steps you can take to help avoid this risk. Today, to call attention to the risk posed by driving drowsy, the NTSB is releasing a new Safety Alert, Drowsy Driving Among Young Drivers.

Jana Price, PhD, is a Senior Human Performance Investigator in NTSB’s Office of Highway Safety.

Act to End Deadly Distractions

By Robert L. Sumwalt

Every year, more than 3,000 people are killed—and 100 times more than that are injured—in accidents caused by distracted drivers. Whether the distraction is due to a driver using a hand-held personal electronic device or engaging in a wide range of other activities that take a driver’s attention off the road, the number of crashes, injuries, and fatalities resulting from distraction is on the rise. It will take a concerted effort by lawmakers, law enforcers, and transportation safety advocates to end this deadly trend.

This year marks the ninth time that the NTSB has included “eliminate distractions while driving” on its Most Wanted List (MWL) of transportation safety improvements. Although it’s not a new issue, ending deadly distractions in all modes of transportation is again on our signature priority list because it is one of the most critical issues facing the traveling public today.

More must be done to raise awareness about this issue, which has appeared on the MWL for far too long. To that end, the NTSB, in partnership with StopDistractions.org, will host a roundtable, titled “Act to End Deadly Distractions”—its second such event in 25 months aimed at shedding light on the issue of distracted driving and focusing on practical and measurable solutions to this growing problem. This upcoming roundtable will build off the momentum from our first distraction roundtable in March 2015, and will examine existing public policy and laws in several states that have reduced the number of crashes attributed to distraction. Our panel of participants will highlight ways that advocates and community influencers can work with law enforcement to continue to ensure distracted driving laws are enforced consistently. And, perhaps most importantly, victims’ families will speak about how they’ve been affected by these preventable crashes.

I have the pleasure of hosting this year’s event, which will be held on Wednesday, April 26, 2017, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the NTSB Conference Center in Washington, DC. More details can be found at the Act to End Deadly Distractions Roundtable webpage. The roundtable is open to the public and will be live streamed on the Web.

April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month and May is Global Youth Traffic Safety Month; this roundtable comes at the perfect time to raise awareness and spur action toward eliminating distraction.

One fatality due to a distracted driver is one too many. We know what it will take to eliminate these tragedies, and we are confident that the upcoming roundtable will be a step that direction.